Costa Cruises are rolling out the new livery to the entire fleet to celebrate the line’s 70th anniversary. The design is intended to be a tribute to the Italian heritage of the company, which started life in the 19th century as a cargo company, but didn’t introduce passenger services until 1947.

A stylised Italian flag, as well as the name of the ship, will be painted on the bow in a specially designed new font in larger lettering than previously. The new livery is reminiscent of P&O Cruises’ introduction of the Union Jack on the bow of its own cruise ships.

The first ship to display the new livery is Costa Mediterranean, which just wrapped up a five month cruise season out of Dubai. The logo was painted during a cruise in the Mediterranean, while in port at Marseille, the left side of the bow was painted, and the day after in Savona, it was the turn of the right side.

By the end of the year the rest of the Costa fleet currently in service will also be painted. The project also covers the new ships under construction, including Costa Venezia and Costa Smeralda, scheduled to be delivered in March and October, 2019.

Costa Mediterranea will return to Dubai for the 2018/19 cruise season, and while MSC Cruises and AIDA Cruises are both significantly increasing their capacity in the Dubai cruise market for the 2019/2020 cruise season, Costa has yet to reveal which ship will be coming to the Middle East.